Linear Technology Corp.'s Digital Monitor

Many emerging, low-voltage systems today rely on
monitoring ICs to relay parametric data used in assessing overall system health
and reliability. Traditional ADC implementations require a sensor, low-noise
preamplifier, precise reference and some type of digital interface, resulting
in a complex monitoring scheme prone to inaccuracies if not carefully designed.
The LTC2990 is a highly integrated monitoring solution that incorporates a
14-bit ADC, a 10ppm/C voltage reference and I2C
digital interface to provide submillivolt voltage resolution, as well as +1C
accuracy internally and +0.5C accuracy remotely when making temperature
measurements. The LTC2990 provides a configurable, yet simple solution for
monitoring temperature and voltage without compromising accuracy on any
parameter.

The LTC2990 caters to a wide variety of applications including supply voltage
monitoring and remote diode temperature measurement, particularly in industrial
or computing systems where thermal management is crucial for maximizing
performance. The device enables configuration of four single-ended voltage
inputs to measure any combination of internal temperature, remote temperature,
remote voltage and internal VCC for single
or repeated measurements. When making differential measurements of diode or
transistor voltages to calculate temperature, the LTC2990 allows for
cancellation of error due to sensor series resistance. The LTC2990's accuracy
is the result of the averaging 14-bit ADC, while the number of supporting
components and area required is minimized thanks to the internal 10ppm voltage
reference. In addition, the I2C serial
interface enables easy configuration and read back of the device's control,
status and data registers, with support of up to 400kbit/s in I2C fast mode.

The LTC2990 is offered in commercial and industrial versions, supporting
operating temperature ranges from
0 to 70C and -40 to 85C, respectively. The LTC2990 is available today in a
small RoHS-compliant,
10-lead MSOP package. Pricing starts at $2.25 each in 1,000 piece quantities.

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